Here’s a few thoughts on today’s game:
1. Wright was Wright. First inning, there was a botched 3-1 play scored as a hit, but it should have been an out. I couldn’t tell whether Mancini’s throw wasn’t accurate or Wright just dropped it, but he was there before the runner. The runner ended up on 2B but then got doubled up when the next hitter took off on a line drive caught by Jones. Another runner got caught misreading a liner to Jones in the third inning and was doubled up. Later that inning, a runner scored on a single to RF when Gentry’s throw was offline to the RF foul side, but Sisco caught the runner rounding first. So, Wright only got one out that inning, but the fielders/baserunners bailed him out twice. In the fifth, after allowing a single and a walk, Wright balked the runners over and then allowed a two-run triple. Typical Wright, he was rattled. The next guy hit a grounder to Sardiñas, who was playing in, but his throw home was head-high and Sisco didn’t get the tag low enough and the runner slid under it for the fourth run. Overall, not a sharp outing by Wright. He topped out at 93, I think.
Joely Rodriguez came in with two out and his first pitch was clocked at 100 mph. He got one out to end the inning and that was all we saw of him.
Mesa threw two innings and was sitting 90-91; I saw him hit 92 once. He threw mostly breaking stuff and it looked decent; he got one batter to look foolish striking out on an 82-mph pitch that was either a slider or a change. Mesa also botched a comebacker and allowed a stolen base that didn’t even draw a throw (Sisco bobbled it, but it didn’t matter as the runner was practically standing on 2B).
O’Day pitched the 8th and struck out the side very easily. I think he faced three minor leaguers and they all looked helpless.
Scott closed it out and didn’t have his good fastball or great command. He sat 94, topping out at 95, with his slider in the 85-86 range. He broke off about 2 good sliders but missed badly with several, including one that didn’t break and nearly beaned a guy. A run scored on a grounder to Adrian Marin at SS, who bobbled the transfer and had to settle for an out at first instead of trying to nail the runner at the plate.
I’ll put some comments on the hitters in a separate post.
I should add, my seats were beyond 3B in the upper section, but I spent 1.5 innings visiting with Bruce (vatech1994) who was sitting 5 rows behind home plate. He may have some comments on the pitchers from that vantage point that I couldn’t give from where I sat most of the time. Awesome seats for Bruce!
Discuss here.
